The Corporation
Country Dances, Ancient and Modern

Ocean Wave

Background Sources

I saw a video of this dance made in 2018, and I found a description of (most of) the figures in the video in Ida Levin's Kentucky Square Dances of 1928.

Both describe the dance as a square dance done in a large circle. The modern version used a sicilian circle format, the older uses a "visiting couple" format. The figure has changed slightly over the years, but it is clearly the same thing.

In Ida Levin's day, a special figure called "do-si-do" (nothing like the standard back to back figure) was done with the last couple. That appears to have gotten lost with time.

After doing all possible permutations of the duple minor figure, a whole set figure was danced. Although these figures have the same name in 1928 and 2018 they are significantly different.

Examples

Kentucky Square Dances

Modern version

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